TUSC: Building an electoral challenge to Con-Dem and Labour cuts


Judy Beishon

Over 60 Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) election candidates and agents from the May elections assembled in London on 16 July to discuss May’s results and plan for next year.

Socialist Party speaker Hannah Sell deplored the fact that no Labour Party councillors in Labour-led councils have yet voted against cuts in public services. She noted that voters are turning to alternatives to the three main parties where they think they may challenge the government’s austerity agenda, as shown by the increased votes for the Scottish National Party in Scotland and the Greens in Brighton.

However, these parties will not oppose all cuts, as TUSC does, and although TUSC’s election results were modest, it has put down an important political marker.

Simon Hestor, election agent for Tottenham TUSC candidate Jenny Sutton, spoke on behalf of the Socialist Workers Party, supporting the idea of discussions being initiated by TUSC on whether a left challenge can be made in the 2012 London Assembly and mayoral elections.

The third platform speaker, PCS vice president John McInally, reported on the PCS’s important structured debate and ballot process on the issue of political representation. There then followed over 20 contributions from the floor during the course of the day, from nine regions of the country, including two from regional representatives of the RMT transport union.

A motion from Rugby on the development of TUSC, and a “framework plan for developing TUSC into 2012” presented by TUSC steering committee member Clive Heemskerk, were unanimously agreed by the conference.

Clive urged everyone to start planning for the 2012 elections and to encourage more TUSC candidates in as many areas as possible. He reminded the conference that any trade unionists, socialists and anti-cuts campaigners who support TUSC’s core policies can be TUSC candidates, producing their own material and running their own campaigns.